Mystery 1920s race car

I saw these pictures in the Stilltimecollection site. The description says Alta but that is incorrect.Does anybody have any idea what make of car this is.The sedan behing the rear view has a Shefield, Yorkshire registration.

There is also a workshop photo which seems to show the car(s) being made:

The chassis looks unconvincing, possibly wooden, there are no front springs and the rear springs don't seem to have rear mountings of any sort.Perhaps they are making a mock-up for film purposes - this view was advanced in Another Place by folk I often agree with as I do here and now!

My first thought was Maserati 8c 2500 but this has six cylinders if the exhaust is to be believed.The outside brake linkage-on both sides-looks unconvincing--I think AL is right--its a Mocker.

And if you blow that workshop picture up you can see that the part-completed one appears just to have a solid hunk of wood where the engine should be. Plus the "steering column" on the bare chassis doesn't look designed to connect to anything.

I agree it's very Maserati-esque, so I'd guess it's probably an early 30s film prop. Note also the reference drawings on the wall above the work bench.

Perhaps something to do with Dick Nash? I know he was in business renting out old cars as film props, but I don't know whether he went as far as building dummy ones.

I agree, the chassis doesn't look very functional at all. It doesn't extend far enough for the rear spring mounts for starters! There is also no provision for the front suspension, with the side-rail arch being mocked up in wood, then just covered in.

Still, quite a pretty car though (compared to some modern "period" racers), a bit of a miniature Delage. One for the film buffs to place perhaps?

All first three chassis appear identical using the wooden buck over the front axle as a basis.
The rear axle on the first car has the differential opening facing upwards, which is unlikely if they were really trying to fit the rear axle.
Maybe the car drawings on the wall are an inspiration for whatever is being carried out.

You've been looking at the same pictures as I have Ted, but I think the radiators are wrong in both cases, I still fancy a Brooklands solution. A lot of guff about "props" for a film or mock ups in the 30s. Why? There were enough defunct obsolete race cars around to obviate the need for building property substitutes.

My immediate thought on seeing the first picture was "Delage". In the pre-war days, when welding wasn't the simple business it is now, wooden mock-ups were often used, remember, they were well versed in using wood for making frames and they were much easier to alter than welded steel when working on layouts and positioning, measuring and getting dimensions right. Remember, no science of ergonomics then, if you wanted to check how the driver fitted in, you made a dummy seat, stuck it in place and said "Well, the pedals can be here, the gear leaver there..."

That does seem an awful lot of trouble to go to just for a film prop, what with the brake cables and friction-style shocks et al. Surely filmgoers in those days would have been satisfied with a lot less, and wouldn't have expected the level of realism we demand today? *

All very odd. Real suggestions of Delage/Talbot there in the shape/style. But if it's a one-off, why the three mock-ups in the workshop?

*I take that back - all films have the car exploding into a ball of fire as it plunges over a cliff, for no apparent physical reason.

As I see this, the workshop picture shows what appears to be mere jigs, for what looks like pretty well made body panels. I don't doubt they're not "cars", but it is a lot to go through for mock ups. The top picture shows what appears to be a complete car. The rear springs puzzle me, as they still look like the "wooden" dummies, although these could, as was the practice, have been bound with string, to keep the leafs together. They do appear to have a more substantial rear mounting and proper rear shackle plates. There's also a lot of detail in first picture, like the rad' pressure blow off hose, that's a lot of detail for a film mock up, as in the louvering, that would have been painted on.

The fact that in the background of the workshop picture, there appears to be a saloon car, my guess is that it's coachshop, preparing body panels for an outside customer. Still doesn't answer what the first picture is of though!!

Looks to be spot on though one or two details don't quite stack up.The car in the archive photo does not have a sprung Ashby steering wheel. It is a rather ordinary looking celluloid covered wheel and it did bother me that it was a decidedly unsporting bit of kit for what otherwise looked to be a "proper" racing car. Also what about the Perrot shaft operated front brakes which are not featured on the car in Ashby's advertisement? Quite an expensive item I would think - perhaps the car in the archive photo is an amalgam of all sorts of bits to show off Ashby's goodies to best advantage?

I can find a photo on the AustinHarris site going back to 1928, my original hypothesis of a Brooklands Solution and the JCC proves to be correct. i started looking for too early an entry because nearly 60 years ago I had association with the 1923 200 Mile Race Alvis.